RAF Wroughton

RAF Wroughton
Wroughton, Wiltshire
Near Swindon in England
RAF Wroughton
Coordinates 51°30′25″N 1°48′07″W / 51.507°N 1.802°W / 51.507; -1.802Coordinates: 51°30′25″N 1°48′07″W / 51.507°N 1.802°W / 51.507; -1.802
Site information
Owner Science Museum Group
Open to
the public		 no
Site history
Built 1 April 1940
In use 1979 (1979)

RAF Wroughton was a Royal Air Force airfield near Wroughton, in Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Swindon. It opened on 1 April 1940.[1] At some point in time, control of RAF Wroughton was handed over to the Royal Navy, and it became RNAS Wroughton. The airfield now belongs to the Science Museum Group and is home to the Science Museum at Wroughton, which houses the large-object storage and library of the Science Museum.

Science Museum at Wroughton

The large-object storage of the Science Museum has been at Wroughton since the 1970s.[2]

RAF Princess Alexandra Hospital

RAF Hospital Wroughton was part of the station. It was opened as the RAF General Hospital on 14 June 1941, and treated both military and civilian patients. It was renamed RAF Princess Alexandra Hospital on 4 October 1967, after a visit by Princess Alexandra of Kent on 4 July of that year. Unfortunately it was closed on 31 March 1996 and was demolished.[3]

Solar farm

In December 2013 planning permission was given for a large solar farm to be constructed on about 67 hectares of the airfield, where over 150,000 solar panels would be installed, in a joint project of Swindon Commercial Services and the Science Museum Group.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chris Ashworth (1985). Action stations: Military airfields of the Central South and South-East. Volume 9 of Action Stations. Cambridge: Stephens. p. 307.
  2. ↑ Big Object storage. Science Museum. Accessed March 2015.
  3. ↑ RAF Hospital Wroughton Royal Air Force: PMRAFNS. Accessed March 2015.
  4. ↑ [s.n.] (11 December 2013). Wiltshire solar farm at former RAF Wroughton site approved. BBC News. Accessed March 2015.

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